Worldwide environmental, economic, and political factors are pushing industries away from fossil fuels and towards electrification. In the automotive industry, this is encouraging the adoption of electric motors and other systems in electric personal vehicles, buses, trucks, and trains at an increasing pace. Ever increasing steps towards autonomous vehicles are pushing the integration of large numbers of sensors and smart devices into each vehicle. High power and high switching rates create an electrically noisy environment in which sensitive electronic and electrical components can malfunction if they are not properly isolated.
Electromagnetic interference-free (EMI-free) power electronics applications have necessitated the development of optical switching technology. One example is an opticondistor, which includes a photonic core that uses a wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor material that exhibits photoconductivity and allows a current flow therethrough when light is incident on it. The photonic core provides unique features that enable versatile circuit applications to either replace the semiconductor transistor-based circuit elements or semiconductor diode-based circuit elements.
Traditionally, the cooling of a power electronics device is achieved by packaging the device between metal and ceramic layers with remote cooling (for example, by using a separate cold plate) to achieve designed electrical function, while allowing for effective heat transfer. However, the package metal and ceramic layers become a bottleneck for increased thermal performance as power density increases. Additionally, a light source must be aligned with the photonic core in the opticondistor in order to activate the electrical switch. An improved strategy for compact packaging that provides enhanced thermal performance and device alignment in an opticondistor is thus desirable.